Auerbach, Randy P., Jordi Alonso, William G. Axinn, and et al. 2016. “Mental Disorders among College Students in the World Mental Health Surveys.” Psychological Medicine 46(14):2955-2970. DOI.
Mental Disorders among College Students in the World Mental Health Surveys
Social Context of First Birth Timing in a Rapidly Changing Rural Setting
Publication Abstract
Ghimire, Dirgha J. 2016. “Social Context of First Birth Timing in a Rapidly Changing Rural Setting.” Social Science Research 61:314-329.
This article examines the influence of social context on the rate of first birth. Drawing on socialization models, I develop a theoretical framework to explain how different aspects of social context (i.e., neighbors), may affect the rate of first birth. Neighbors, who in the study setting comprise individuals’ immediate social context, have an important influence on the rate of first birth. To test my hypotheses, I leverage a setting, measures and analytical techniques designed to study the impact of macro-level social contexts on micro-level individual behavior. The results show that neighbors’ age at first birth, travel to the capital city and media exposure tend to reduce the first birth rate, while neighbors’ non-family work experience increases first birth rate. These effects are independent of neighborhood characteristics and are robust against several key variations in model specifications.
DOI: 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2016.07.001
PMCID: PMC5125526
Ethnicity and Psychiatric Disorders
Publication Abstract
Hawes, Armani, William G. Axinn, and Dirgha J. Ghimire. 2016. “Ethnicity and Psychiatric Disorders.” Annals of Psychiatry and Mental Health 4(4):1072.
Psychiatric disorders are one of the leading causes of disease-related disability in the world today. However, little is known about the ethnic variation of these disorders within populations. This is especially true in contexts outside of the United States and the European Diaspora. This study provides new evidence from South Asia on ethnic differences in Major Depressive Episode, Major Depressive Disorder, Panic Attack, Panic Disorder, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Intermittent Explosive Disorder. We use data from 400 adult interviews conducted in Nepal in a controlled comparison design as a case study. We use a series of multilevel logistic regression models to predict ethnic group differences in psychiatric disorders and episodes with measures from clinically validated World Mental Health survey instruments. Compared to the Brahmin/Chhetri group, we found historically excluded Dalits had statistically significantly higher odds of almost all psychiatric disorders and episodes. We also found that historically resilient Janajatis had statistically significantly lower odds of being diagnosed with PTSD than the majority Brahmin/Chhetri group. We also found no significant gender difference in MDD or MDE. Psychiatric disorders and episodes vary significantly by ethnicity within a rural Asian population, but gender differences are small.
PMCID: PMC5560443
Rural Agricultural Change and Individual Out-migration
Publication Abstract
Bhandari, Prem B., and Dirgha J. Ghimire. 2016. “Rural Agricultural Change and Individual Out-migration.” Rural Sociology 81(4):572-600.
We investigate the impact of household use of labor-saving farm technologies on first-time out-migration after the household agriculture and consumption survey was conducted in 1996. Building on the labor substitution framework, we hypothesize that household use of labor-saving technologies (e.g., tractors, farm implements, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides) increases individual out-migration. To estimate the effects of the use of labor-saving farm technologies on out-migration, we use uniquely detailed panel data from the rapidly changing rural agrarian, migrant-sending setting of Nepal. The results of our multilevel, discrete-time, event history models suggest that net of other known factors associated with out-migration, household use of farm technology-particularly the use of tractors-significantly increases out-migration.
PMCID: PMC5220587